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I didn't notice this before, but Akron is the highest rated team in the state of Ohio. Below is where the traditional contenders for that title are currently ranked. Ohio State - 63 Dayton -88 Xavier - 102 Cincinnati - 154

I don't condone fighting or destruction of property, and I don't particularly like seeing an away team heckle the home fans and players. However, if I condone home fans getting in the heads of players for 90+ minutes, then I don't feel that I can be a snowflake when it's over and the away team does a little jawing when they prevail. Curious, where was this discussion at the end of our game at Creighton?

I'm still cold two hours later but it was worth it!

Match is scheduled for Saturday at 1 pm.

And the Billikens will come to Akron!

Tremendous article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer (this is currently not a subscriber only article...hopefully, all can access?) I have not yet seen the press conferences....but this has quotes from several zips players, Coach Embick and the Duke coach https://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/2025/12/akron-zips-mens-soccer-gives-duke-the-cold-shoulder-moves-into-ncaa-elite-eight-with-2-0-victory.html “The crowd drove us through that game,” Daragh Reilly said. “You could see in the last 10-15 minutes, we were getting tired. We were trying to push each other, but every time we got a play, we made a tackle, the momentum kept swinging back to us. “Big shoutout to the fans tonight. I don’t think we could have been anywhere near without that tonight.” “Awesome performance not only from our team, but from the fans and community that packed this place in this weather and were behind us the whole game,” Coach Embick said. “We fed off that energy, and I think that really helped us through some moments where maybe we weren’t playing as well as we wanted.”

Great crowd for a pretty cold night tonight. Late in the game a large plastic bag blew down the field and ended up in the Zips goal. We remarked it was the best shot on goal Duke had in the match.

We didn't even get 20 minutes! 16 total minutes for the season he was here!

Top Drawer soccer (TDS) predicts that a zip 2027 recruit will do well this weekend in ECNL tournament. https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/article/?categoryId=0&articleId=55414&articleTitle=ecnl-boys-sc:-under-19-players-to-know Lazar Ivanis, Cleveland Force FC – The success of local talent Jack Roman at Akron suggests that a 2027 grad like Ivanis could hit the Big East program and make a difference. Ivanis is a midfielder with the profile and quality to change games for the Force U19s.

I believe we’re recruiting him as a DB.

If Akron hadn't been screwed by the NCAA with the Northwestern game, Zakuani wins the Hermann Trophy that year. Emil last year was inexcusable as well.

Every Zip coach and every Zip player should be very proud. Phenomenal effort....especially with the injury of Stefan Dobrijevic ...early in the game Thinking good thoughts for Stefan Duke did not have a single shot on goal. Zips were the much more skilled soccer team and the much classier, professional soccer team. I don't slight any zip by mentioning names......as all of the starters were outstanding..... and every single sub....starting with Ignacio Alem and Jack Sullivan....ending with Jamai Royer, Nathan Ferguson and Braxton Hayes.....played outstanding fundament soccer. Thorough beat down of an ACC Powerhouse...... For the zips fans living far from Akron, I also want to compliment Chad Welker and womens asst soccer Josh Kay. Josh and Chad were outstanding on commentary.

I hope that Zips Men's Soccer alumni players as well as the coaches instill in our players to not take SLU for granted even though the first meeting was a lopsided 3-0 result. SLU is doing as needed to survive and advance on the road. Danger! Beware!

Here's the OOC since im the OOC guy these days JMU 177 Princeton 263 Purdue 3 Iona 168 Evansville 317 Yale 25 Milwaukee 222 Bucknell 304 Tulane 236 Murray State 93 Potential Sun Belt Opponents South Alabama 117 Southern Miss 130 Marshall 132 Troy 133

NET rankings have been released. Akron currently sits at #42. Others of note. UB - #87 Miami - #108 BGSU - #111 Toledo - #150 Kent State - #157 https://stats.ncaa.org/selection_rankings/nitty_gritties/47272

I do not understand the Lane Kiffin thing at all. First of all failure on the ADs, NCAA, everyone for allowing these coaching changes to happen before the season is over. What if Jared Embick just said he is going to coach somewhere else right now? Second, why would the coach of the #6 ranked team in the country leave his job to go coach a team that went 3-6 in conference play this year? Even if the answer is money how is Ole Miss not putting up the same amount of money to keep him? P4 football is a disaster, ruining the soul of college athletics

Yeah I wasnt planning on taking off my gloves for the whole match 😂 what a game! On to the elite 8!

Played left tackle at JUCO, but he’ll likely slide inside for us.

Same here. Thanks for the explanation @Let'sGoZips94.

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/2025/12/01/akron-zips-soccer-will-play-saint-louis-next-in-ncaa-tournament/87548451007/?tbref=hp

I personally love the gamesmanship and quite frankly, with how sad the last PK attempt by Bryant was, they deserved everything they got lol. With that being said, I like Akron being the more composed, controlled, and skilled team on Saturday with everything I saw from SLU.

I caught the yellow card but didn't know what happened. Yikes.

Bringing this information here as it's more pertinent. @kreed5120 did the top 5 MAC teams in another thread, but I want to expand on that so we can laugh at Ohio. Akron - 42 Buffalo - 87 Miami OH - 108 Bowling Green - 111 Toledo - 150 Kent - 157 EMU - 170 UMass - 208 NIU - 257 CMU - 285 Ohio - 287(!) WMU - 292 Balls - 340(!) For comparison, if I'm not mistaken, the MAC had 4 teams in the top 200 to end last season. If this trend of 7+ teams in the top 200 continues, look for the MAC to be both very competitive and highly thought of come March (in comparison to previous years). Top 200 Teams by Non P4 + Big East Conference: America East: 1 American: 7 ASUN: 2 A10: 9 (8 are top 100) Big Sky: 7 Big South: 2 Big West: 7 CAA: 7 CUSA: 5 Horizon: 6 Ivy: 4 MAAC: 4 MAC: 7 MEAC: 0 Mountain West: 9 MVC: 8 NEC: 3 OVC: 3 Patriot: 3 SoCon: 3 Southland: 5 Summit: 3 Sun Belt: 6 SWAC: 0 WAC: 4 WCC: 7 The MAC is positioning itself to be in the top half of conferences, which is a huge improvement compared to recent seasons.

That certainly plays a part. The formulas also while involving many of the same criteria weigh things differently. I'm not sure where Buffalo would be ranked in kenpom without the preseason expectations built in. We will find that out in early to mid-January when it gets completely phased out.

Yale is at 25 with means we now have 2 Q1 losses. 1-0 in Q3 and 4-0 in Q4

Post #1 updated 🔥

And by seeds that reads as #'s 4, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, and two unranked. Crazy tournament. We are as good as anyone remaining, so why not us?

SLU's goalie got a yellow card during PKs for throwing the Bryant goalie's water bottle over the large screen behind the goal. I personally wasn't impressed with either team, so if SLU lacks mental and physical fortitude, advantage Akron.

Sorry but I'm not so sure about this. It seems to me that if we expect a team to endure that which fans can dish out for 90+ minutes (like that which our rowdies provide), why should we not expect players to vent for a few minutes following a road win.

And the magic happens if both are true! Provided the UConn booster is "big enough" to matter.

This is a good practice game against size. We should win by 20 but hopefully we rebound and defend well!

AND traveling from St. Louis to Rhode Island back to St. Louis and then to Akron

Fantastic! First time in 10 years we host an elite 8 match!

Saint Louis went directly over to the Bryant student section to taunt them after the win. Tells me you can possibly get in their heads a bit.

WE ARE STAYING HOME. FILL THE HILL ONE MORE TIME

SLU advances on PKs. Akron will host!

PKs for SLU/Bryant.

Soccer shouldn't be played on turf. The lines should make Bryant ineligible to host anything soccer related.

credit to the 1,344 great fans.......that showed up in 30 degree weather...with 20 mph winds... https://goduke.com/documents/2025/11/30/Duke_at_Akron_MSOC_Final_Game_Book.PDF

Bucknell got peeled by Cornell today in a battle of the nells, 101-72.

All is quiet here. Everyone must be either at the game or watching on ESPN+. In any case, it is great to be up 1-0 at home in poor weather against a southern team that is likely focused on getting and staying warm.

This This This. We should all be excited

22-9 end of 1Q. We’re going to get run out of our own gym by the coach ole Chucky ran out of town aren’t we.

Should have had four winners ... Steve Zakuani in 2008 as well as Emil last year. Still angry about both! In 2008, Zakuani scored 20 goals and 7 assists over 23 games to become a finalist for the Hermann Trophy Marcus Tracy: He won the 2008 Hermann Trophy for the nation's most outstanding college player while at Wake Forest University where he scored 13 goals and 10 assists in 24 games. 2024 Emil Jaaskelainen: Started all 21 games for Akron in 2024 en route to recording an NCAA-best 23 goals and 54 points, while also leading the nation in game-winning goals (6), goals per game (1.10) and points per tilt (2.57)... Michael Adedokun: Led Ohio State with 11 goals, 11 assists and 33 points

If you hire the Akron coach after never having a winning season, you shouldn't be AD at a school like UCONN. We have begun the point of the office season when people in the media throw out names in an effort to look smart when coaching opportunities arise. If they throw out 20 names and one hits, they can tell everyone how smart they are.

If the NCAA really cared, they would force bigger schools to pay restitution or kickbacks for poaching players. Something like 15-25% of the NIL deal paid back to the former school. Not a lot, but it's better than nothing and would provide resources to replace outgoing athletes.

It looks like zips have another 2026 recruit

Fantastic goal by Zip recruit Kam Warnke Congratulations to Kam Warnke and the Aurora (OH) Greenmen. Aurora advanced to the division 3 quarterfinlas with a 2-2 penalty kick win over Canfiled (Aurora won 5-3 on PK's).

2 of the Zips 2026 recruits are mentioned in this article from the Columbus Dispatch. https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/high-school/soccer/2025/10/08/ohio-high-school-boys-soccer-player-of-year-vote-columbus-ohsaa/86358155007/ Cal DeWalt, Dublin Jerome A senior center back and leader of the Celtics’ stout defense, the Akron commit has contributed to eight shutouts and assisted one goal. Jerome is 6-0-2 in its eight shutouts. Londen Sears, New Albany A senior forward and midfielder who has committed to Akron, Sears has 11 goals and 12 assists for an Eagles team that is ranked first statewide in Division II, second regardless of division and is top-seeded in the district in pursuit of its second consecutive state championship.